Look who's looking at me
by Sarahrules336
Summary: CH 8 up! James loves Lily. She hates him. He wishes she would listen to him. What will James do to get her? What will Lily do when she finds out? Remus has to make a big decision! Read to find out. LJ,RJOC,SBOC, Peter and no one because I don't like him.
1. In which they get back

A/N: Hey guys, this is my first ever Lily/James Story, and its my second posted fanfic that's going to be more than one chapter long. read and review please. check out my other stories if you want, and i appreciate any helpful critisism, no flames please. thanx guys!

Disclaimer: okay seriously, if i owned Harry Potter, then why would i be writing it here. i mean really, that's not even rational. oh well, if i must.

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When Lily Evans woke up on September 1st after her alarm went off at precisely 7:45AM, she sat bolt upright and grinned ear-to-ear. Today, she thought, can simply not go wrong! As you see, today was the start of her "senior" year at Hogwarts, and she was the Head Girl. The very fact that she had been chosen for the title made it bearable to stand her sister, Petunia, deriding her for being a witch, and she stayed very happy the whole way through break.

When she got downstairs that morning, she reminded her parents that she was leaving for school today. "Hey Mom, Dad, remember you have to drop me off at King's Cross today." She said in a singsong voice, remembering she could finally see her boyfriend, Alex, whom she had only talked to by letters since the end of school last year, and they had only been dating for a couple weeks before that, so she missed him very much.

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When they got to London, Lily said goodbye to her parents, and went through the barrier to platform 9 ¾ where she quickly spotted her best friends, "Hey Charlie, Amee! Over here!" she rushed over to her two best friends and enveloped both of them at once in a humongous hug. "Do you guys know who the Head Boy is this year?" She had already told them that she got the other position when they had talked over the summer.

The two girls exchanged glances and sighed as one, "You'll see…"

"What? Oh, come on guys, tell me who it is, whomever it is cannot be that bad." She pleaded.

They shook their heads, saying, "You'll find out..."

"Fine." Lily stalked away onto the train.

She walked into the prefects' compartment where she could finally figure out who the Head Boy was. He wasn't there yet, so she started the meeting without the mystery person.

About five minutes later, none other than the infamous James Potter strolled casually into the compartment, grinning. "Heyy Ev-Lily."

"You're late." Lily stated, trying not to show her shock at the fact that she was going to have to spend a whole year living right next to him; that she would have to put up with him even more than she already did, and preferably not kill him in the process.

"Yeah, about that, sorry, I, um… I got lost?" James suggested somewhat feebly.

"Whatever, as I was saying before that rude interruption…" Lily continued her speech about the duties of being a prefect after glaring in James's direction for about a minute. The meeting lasted only a little over an hour, after which she gave all of the prefects the new password to each of the respective houses as they left.

She waited until everyone had gone from the room before she left, but James seemed to be waiting for her for some reason. Lily looked curiously over at him, leaning against the door to the compartment, "What in the world are you doing?"

"Waiting for you of course," he said, grinning as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"And why would you be doing something like that?" She asked.

James seemed to have changed his mind about something, and for some reason he looked sort of… sad. The sparkle had all but gone from his bright blue eyes. _But wait,_ she thought_, I hate him, I don't care about that_. She shook herself mentally. "I don't know. Never mind, I'm leaving now." James said as he walked quickly out of the suddenly very quiet and empty compartment.

Lily walked slowly back to her friends' compartment, all the while contemplating what had just taken place.

Why was James waiting for me?

_He likes you_ said a voice in Lily's head.

He hates me, and I hate him. That's final. She told the voice.

_Why else would he be waiting for you?_

Cause he wanted to prank me or something, I don't know

But her voice, or conscience, or whatever it was, had no time to respond.

"Earth to Lily!" said the blonde, blue-eyed, quiet girl named Amee, waving her hand in front of Lily's face.

Lily looked around and realized that she had been standing in the doorway of her compartment for apparently some time. "Oh, hey guys, sorry, zoned out for a bit."

"That's an understatement, Amee said your name about a million times," The brunette, Charlie, pointed out. "oh, hey Alex." She added as Lily's blonde boyfriend entered the compartment.

"Alex!" Lily squealed, jumping up and giving Alex a hug and kiss. Amee and Charlie rolled their eyes at each other, they didn't really like Alex, but they put up with him for Lily's sake. "I missed you soo much!"

"Yeah, I missed you too." He said quickly. "Well, I just wanted to say hi, I had better be getting back to my guys; I said I wouldn't be long."

"Oh, okay, well, I'll see you later, bye." She said a little unhappily. "So, where were we? Oh right, I was zoned out, sorry about that." She said changing the subject quickly.

"So, whom were you thinking about?" inquired Amee somewhat curiously.

"Who." Lily automatically corrected.

"What?"

"It's 'who' not 'whom'."

"Fine then, _who_ were you thinking about?"

"No one..."

"Sure…" agreed Amee, not sounding convinced at all.

"We'd better start getting changed, we'll be there soon." Decided Lily, changing the subject successfully.

"Okay," agreed Charlie readily, hoping to avoid any further arguments.

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The Feast was nearly over when Dumbledore stood up to make his annual speech. "I hope that everyone here had a fantastic summer, but the summer is over now, so if you didn't then it's behind you, so you get to come back and learn now. That's all, but if the Head Boy and Girl would please come see me after this for some simple housekeeping issues. Have a nice night." (A/N: that was a really sad speech, sorry guys!) 

After they made sure all of the prefects were doing what they were supposed to be, James and Lily made their ways separately to the Head table; Lily wishing that she could be doing anything, preferably something with Alex, other than spending any more time than absolutely necessary with James Potter.

"Follow me, and please keep up." said Dumbledore, heading for the Griffindor common room, but stopping just before it at a painting of a beautiful Centaur. "Now, this is where you will be staying for this year, though your bed is still in your other room, so you may go there if you wish. You guys must agree on a password, which you may change at anytime as long as you agree on it."

Lily glared at James and said "Hershey Kisses" without even asking him. James looked somewhat confused but all the same nodded quickly in agreement.

"Good choice," said Dumbledore, leaving them alone in the hall to do what they wished.

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A/N: hey guys, what did you think of that chapter? Its not very long but they get longer as we go. Okay, so you know what to do, read and review! I have a couple more of the chapters already written so I will have something posted next week if you guys review enough. Much love,

Sarah


	2. In which they fight

A/N: see? I'm updating. And everyone thought I was lying, lol. Okay, here it is. Oh, and thanx for however many reviews I got.

Disclaimer: I only wish that I had that much writing ability. Oh well, I'll just use her characters for my own evil will. But don't worry; they will be returned safe and sound! Maybe.

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It was a few weeks after the start of term, and it seemed Lily and James were fighting more than ever, at least, that's how James saw it. One day in the Great Hall, Lily was yelling at James for what felt like the millionth time. "James! I can't believe you! You are such a prat!"

"What did I do?" he asked, feeling as confused as he was sure he looked.

"You know what you did, I can't believe you!" Lily shouted, but nearly everyone ignored her, they were used to the inexhaustible fights and arguments that never seemed to begin or end at all.

"What did I do? I still cannot figure what in the world I did to you!" James shouted exasperatedly.

"If you can't figure it out then that's your problem, not mine!" Lily said as she stalked past him out the door.

James was confused, he really did have no idea why she was mad at him, though he suspected it had something to do with hexing Snape the other day…

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"_I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," said Lily._

_"Bad luck, Prongs," said Sirius briskly, turning back to Snape. "OY!"_

_But too late; Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood. James whirled about; a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of graying underpants._

_Many people in the small crowd cheered, Sirius, James, and Wormtail roared with laughter._

_Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, said, "Let him down!"_

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James had told his friends that he was _so_ over her, but that was a lie, and everyone knew it, especially Sirius and Remus, who saw him glance at her whenever he thought they weren't looking. All he could ever think about was how he could get her not to hate him anymore, though that seemed almost impossible at the moment. He now spent most of his spare time, what wasn't spent doing school work, flying on his broom. It seemed that he could leave his worries on the ground with the rest of the world. He would also complain all of the time about how everything in the whole world, magical or not, was made for right-handed people, which he was not. He even sometimes found himself subconsciously staying away from his friends, seeing as they tended to notice his mood and ask him what was wrong. He didn't have the heart to tell them that he was still in love with the one person in the school that he couldn't have.

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One day, he was sitting in the great hall, finishing his breakfast, when Sirius came up to him. "Heyy, where've you been lately? You're like, never around anymore dude, what's up with you?"

"Nothing, I've just been busy with homework and Quidditch, and being head boy and all." James crossed his fingers behind his back.

"Yeah, okay, well, I was just wondering, we've missed you these past couple of weeks dude." said Sirius, not sounding at all convinced.

"Well, it's just Lily," Sirius started to smile, but James stopped him quickly by adding, "She's been such a jerk lately, I mean, more than usual, now that she's dating that loser guy, what's his name again? Oh, right, Alex something-or-other. That stupid Ravenclaw is soo obnoxious." James ranted.

"Sounds like somebody's _jealous,_" accused Sirius, drawing out the last word for effect.

"Jealous?" James asked incredulously, "Jealous of that selfish, undeserving, lowlife git! I don't think so!" James glared, daring Sirius to say anything else. He got up and walked away, leaving Sirius speechlessly behind him, staring along with the rest of the great hall at his supposed best friend.

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Remus, Sirius, Amee, and Charlie all met in front of the school after witnessing one of Lily and James's famous fights.

"We have to do something about them." Remus stated matter-of-factly.

"Duh, the problem is, you are the only one in the group who gets along with both of them and all of us. I personally can't stand Sirius, but hey, I don't start shouting matches whenever I see him, most of the time at least." Charlie said, "I prefer the silent treatment myself." She added, glaring at Sirius

They all thought about this problem for a while, and it looked rather interesting to see them standing there, and anyone who came by would laugh because they would see Charlie standing as far away from Sirius as possible, and Remus was standing in the middle with Amee, possibly she shyest person in the world, which was funny because Remus was the center of attention at the moment and Amee looked like she wanted to drop into a hole and not be stared at anymore.

Amee and James had been good friends for a long time, so she was obviously the one to talk to him about Lily, and Remus was friends with Lily, so he would talk to her. They didn't want their own friends to talk to them because then they would only get one side of the story. Now they had who would do the talking, but they had no idea what the person would say. They decided to drop it for now.

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A/N: I know I said this would be longer, but I already have the next chapter written, and I'm going to start typing it now, I'm sorry, but it'll be up soon I promise. This was a kind of filler chapter, so it's really short. Okay guys, I'll be back with an update before you know it, just keep reading and reviewing til then!

3 Sarah


	3. In which they talk

A/N: Wow guys, only one review. I'm disappointed. Well, I suppose you may have the next chapter anyways, I'm too lazy not to post it, I would forget. I want more reviews this time! I had over 60 hits, and only 2 reviews for the whole story. That makes me sad. Please review or I might cry. ;-(

Disclaimer: I'm boring and uninterested in making this fun so here it is. I don't own it, never will. Wish I did. That's it. Oh, and I also don't own any of the books I mentioned, they belong to Madeline L'Engle and C. S. Lewis.

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Chapter 3: In which they talk

Meanwhile, Lily was getting absolutely nothing done, between her never-ending fights with James, and her head girl duties, she barely had time for anything but her work, and barely that. She saw James come in after Quidditch practice and head for his room, she decided that she had to do something about them or she would never have any time to herself ever again, "Hey, um, James, can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked tentatively.

"Umm… yeah, I guess so," he said, appearing vaguely confused, "what about?"

"Well, seeing as we're probably stuck working and living together for the rest of the whole year, I was thinking that maybe we could try getting along some, I mean, just to make life easier." She stammered, thinking that maybe she could finally get some work done it this succeeded.

"Okay, Lily," James agreed at once, his bright blue eyes sparkling more than Lily had seen all year, even when he was pranking the Slytherins, and for some reason that made Lily smile.

The next day, Lily woke up early as usual and showered, relaxing her tense muscles. After she magically dried her flaming red hair so that it was straight, she threw it up into a messy bun and got dressed quickly. She came out of her room to find that James was waiting for her; he was sitting on their shared red and gold couch, reading one of her favorite muggle books of all times, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. Lily was shocked, to say the least.

"Have you read the sequel? It's almost as good," she said, trying successfully to hide her surprise.

"Of course I have, but it will never be as good as the original." He replied carefully. "I've read the first three books, but never got to the last one. This one's my favorite of all of them." He added.

Lily smiled, wondering vaguely why he was being so nice, but deciding she didn't really care. They had made a deal, so she assumed that was why, but she had never imagined that he would actually wait for herbefore breakfast, seeing how much he seemed to like food.

"Would you like some company for breakfast?" he asked conversationally.

"Um… sure? You know, that's one of my favorite books of all times" Lily smiled, "Calvin is likethe perfect guy. He's smart, cute, and he's nice, even though he has a crappy family--but you don't want to know all of this so I'm just gonna shut up now." Lily stopped abruptly, remembering who she was talking to and said. "But, anyways, how long were you waiting for me?"

"Who says I was waiting for you?" he asked innocently, eyes twinkling.

"Well, I just thought… heyy, you were joking!" she accused.

"Am not."

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, maybe a little," he consented, smiling the famous smile that made all of the girls in the whole school melt every time they saw it and he was smiling just for her. _But wait_, thought Lily, _I hate him, he's an insufferable womanizing jerk. But his smile_, she thought guiltily, _I do love that smile_.

They walked down to breakfast together, laughing and discussing the books they had read, mostly muggle ones. "Yeah," James was explaining, "My dad, Arthur, has a thing for muggle stuff, especially books, so I got most of the 'classics', as well as many other books he collected throughout the years."

By the time they got down to the great hall, there were talking like old friends, and Lily had almost forgotten that she hated him. Almost.

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"Oh my gosh, is that Lily and James? Together? And Lily hasn't killed him? They're even laughing. It must be the apocalypse!" Amee announced to the people surrounding her, including Remus, Charlie, and Sirius, whom was not paying any attention, but rather was continuing to wolf down his enormous breakfast. That is, until Charlie elbowed him in the side, causing him to look up. "whazzatfoorr?" he asked, muffled by the mouth full of food. Charlie pointed at Lily and James, who were now almost to the table, still laughing at some unknown joke. Sirius's eyes grew wide, and his mouth, still full of food, dropped open.

"Eww!" Charlie screamed, even she, the tomboy of the group, was grossed out by his manners, or lack thereof.

"Hey guys, hi Alex." Lily greeted, giving Alex (who had walked over to see her) a quick peck on the lips as her and James sat down.

"Hey Moony, Padfoot, 'sup guys?" James said, though he looked slightly crestfallen after seeing Alex.

Everyone just looked at each other, too shocked for words. Then Amee looked at Lily, then James, and finally back at Lily before asking carefully, "Umm… Lily, are you okay?"

Completely clueless of what was going on, Lily replied, "Yeah, why?"

"You do realize that you just came in here, talking to James like you guys were best friends, and you give us absolutely no explanation?" she stated incredulously.

"Oh, that, well we talked last night and we decided that we are going to try to get along, at least so that we can get stuff done without killing each other." She explained patiently.

"You guys weren't just getting along, you guys came in here acting like best friends, what in the world were you talking and laughing about?"

"Oh, this morning he was reading one of my favorite books; it was a muggle book, so I was surprised and we started talking about it, he's read a lot of good books, I was taken aback when I found out that he has read some of my favorite books." Lily explained one again. She, however, did keep some things about him to herself, like that he had and older brother, Harry, who was an auror. She had been surprised at how open he had been with her, and he was even acting like a normal person, not the usual git that asked her out every other day. She had actually begun to enjoy his company; he had read more of the same books as her than anyone else she knew here. She never imagined that they would have so much in common, even their favorite color, dark blue, like the sky.

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When James sat down at the table next to Sirius, he saw Alex go over and kiss Lily. He grimaced slightly but ignored it and turned to Sirius, "Hey—why are you looking at me like that?" he asked distractedly, still thinking about how well he and Lily had gotten along that morning; he had even told her about his brother, whom no one but Sirius knew about, and that was because Sirius now lived with them as his family sucked. Sure, Sirius was his best friend, but guys just didn't talk about how their family was, guys aren't wired like that. It was nice to have someone to tell things to who wouldn't laugh at you, or tell you to forget about it. There was, of course, the small problem that he still liked her, and therefore, could not talk to her about girls. He avoided the subject as much as he could.

He walked to Transfiguration with Remus, who was looking a bit tired today. Sirius was still eating and said that he would catch up later.

"So Moony," he said after making sure there was no one else in earshot, "When's the next full moon coming up?"

"Tomorrow night," Remus replied rather wearily, "you comin' out around ten?"

"As always, I can't wait!"

"I can"

"Yeah, sorry, must suck."

"Yeah, kinda, but having you guys there really helps, it's not nearly as bad as it used to be before you guys knew and could actually do something about it." Remus smiled as he patted James's back appreciatively.

For a while longer, they walked in comfortable silence, a silence that no one would ever know happened. All of the sudden, Sirius ran up to them and put his arms across their shoulders, "Guys, why'd ya go and leave me?" he whined pathetically.

"Shhh" James said as they walked into the classroom and took their seats in the back. The girls were already sitting in the row in front of them and watched as they passed.

"Ahem." McGonagall got everyone's attention, as the class immediately shut up. "Today we will begin learning about human transformation into animals, better known as animagus." James glanced at Sirius and held back a laugh, they had all learned how to do this a while ago, and they had become illegal animagi back in their fifth year. "We learned the actual charm a little while back, but now we will be going further in depth to this spell. Now, who can tell me what exactly an animagus is?" James and the rest of the marauders all raised their hands instantly, and were quickly followed by Lily's. Sirius looked at James and they both rolled their eyes at each other. This was James's favorite class, the only one he could ever beat Lily in and he never even studied.

"Yes, James?" McGonagall said.

"An animagus is a witch or wizard that can change into an animal at will." James answered smugly.

"Correct, and who can tell me the difference between an animagus and a werewolf?" she asked, eyes lingering for a moment on Remus. Again, all of the Marauders' hands shot up. "Yes, Remus?"

"An animagus is a wizard that elects to become an animal, a werewolf has no choice." He answered, saying the last part with disdain that no one but his best friends noticed.

"Very good," she replied with a somewhat sad smile, "ten points to Gryffindor for those two nicely answered questions."

Later that night, James was finishing his Transfiguration essay, as was Lily, at his desk which was across from hers. "Done!" he shouted triumphantly holding up his roll of parchment.

"Loser," Lily declared, she held up her almost empty roll of parchment and glared at him.

"You want some help?" he offered.

"Sure, it can't be any worse." She teased

"Heyy," he stuck his tongue out at her as he pulled his chair up to her desk and sat down.

They finished around 9:30, and Lily was going to go to bed and read the book that her parents had just sent her, Prince Caspian. "Well James, I think I'm going to go to bed now, thank you for all of your help."

"No problem, oh, and before I forget, I'm gonna be out late tomorrow, so don't come looking for me or wait up." He said.

"Umm… okay." She said, raising an eyebrow, but saying nothing more as she collected her things and went to her room.

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A/N: OMG, I finished! I thought I would never finish typing this chapter. That and the fact that my internet only works about half the time I try to get on. It's sad. Well, I got this posted so at least it works sometimes. Well, READ AND REVIEW. That's all folks!

PS. This is a revised chapter, so are the ones before it, so there are some minor changes.


	4. In which someone finds things out

A/N: hey guys! I'm back! Okay, so I have the next chapter written mostly, but I don't type very fast, or often, so it may be a little while. Oh, and I get to get braces next week, doesn't that sound fun? Not really? I didn't think so. Well, here's the next chapter! Oh, and btw, I'm not the owner of anything you recognize!

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Last time: _They finished around 9:30, and Lily was going to go to bed and read the book that her parents had just sent her, Prince Caspian. "Well James, I think I'm going to go to bed now, thank you for all of your help."_

"_No problem, oh, and before I forget, I'm gonna be out late tomorrow, so don't come looking for me or wait up." He said._

"_Umm… okay." She said, raising an eyebrow, but saying nothing more as she collected her things and went to her room.

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Chapter 4: In which someone finds things out

The next morning, when Lily got to breakfast, the two groups had almost interconnected into one, Lily closing the gap between Sirius and Amee. It was only then that she noticed that Remus wasn't there. "Morning guys! Hey, where's Remus?" she inquired curiously.

Sirius looked up quickly "Oh, he's not feeling to well today" he said, glancing casually at James, who had just come in behind her.

"Yeah," James agreed, his eyes flicking back to Sirius warily, "I just saw him, and he said he was gonna skip classes today."

"Oh, well, is he all right? Should he go to the nurse or something?" Lily wondered out loud.

"No, he'll be fine." Sirius said a little too hastily.

"Okay."

All day, Lily saw no sign of Remus at all; she became a little concerned about him when he never showed up, but went on with her day, trusting James.

In potions that day, Lily was working on the Draught of the Living Dead, which was a sleeping potion that was very powerful. She was glad that Remus had been able to miss this class, seeing as he wasn't that great at potions, and this was a very hard one. She glanced a few times at Snape, who seemed to be doing something different than the directions said, and he was writing things in his book, scribbling things out and such.

Whoever got the best grade on the potion that day would earn a reward of a little bottle of _Felix Felicis_, which was a luck potion that would give you a lucky day if you needed it. A problem was that it was banned for use in sporting matches and tests.

Professor Slughorn walked around the room, looking at each of the potions. He stopped at Lily's cauldron, "Very good," but then kept walking, Lily smiled, but was a little disappointed that she hadn't won. "Oh, look here!" Slughorn smiled at Snape like the Cheshire Cat, "this is the most flawless potion I have seen from this class yet! You win this nice little bottle of luck."

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That night, Lily was lying on the couch in front of the fire, trying to finish her book, but she fell sound asleep, and oddly enough, dreamt of James.

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When James got back around midnight, he was covered in scratches and bruises. He walked into the head dorm and saw Lily on the scarlet and gold couch, fast asleep with her book still in her hands. James got the blanket that was sitting on the end of the couch and pulled it over her, putting her book on the table after marking her place first.

He sat in the chair by the fire and watched her sleep for a while, reminiscing about what had happened that night.

_When they had gotten to the shrieking shack, Remus was already there and in full wolf form. He greeted them with a growl and they left for a night of wandering around in the forbidden forest. Every once in a while you would hear a wolf that was Remus in the distance, howling at the full moon._

_A couple of second year boys were running around, and Remus spotted them. At around the same time, so did Sirius and James. They glanced at each other for a split second and started running full speed at the two kids. Remus was about to leap for the first one when James leapt at Remus in front of the kid and tried to keep him from the terrified little boy. Sirius, meanwhile, was getting the boys out of the forest. When the boys were out, James released Remus and he went sprinting off deep into the forest. Sirius and him decided that it was time for them to leave that night._

James heard stirring and broke out of his "rememberizing".

"James, you're back, where—" Lily stopped after seeing his cuts and bruises, one of which had started bleeding again. "Oh my gosh, what happened to you? Where were you? You knew this was gonna happen, didn't you? That's why you said not to wait up!"

James looked up at her wearily and sighed, wincing slightly when he realized that he was again bleeding. "Hello Lily, I was in the dark forest," James answered, sighing, knowing that he would now have to tell her the whole story. "Okay, before I say anything, you have to swear not to tell anyone, even Amee and Charlie, okay?"

"Of course"

"Okay, here's the thing, Remus is a werewolf. Don't interrupt," he added as Lily looked like she was going to say something, "me and Sirius are animagi, and every month, we go with Remus when he transforms, so he doesn't have to go alone." James explained carefully, hoping she wouldn't yell or scream or anything else to wake up the entire castle. She was being very quiet and James was confused, why wasn't she saying anything, but then,

"You did that for him?" she asked shyly. James nodded, smiling ruefully. "Do you want some help with that?" she asked, indicating his cut that was still bleeding.

James smiled gratefully, "I would love some." He came over and sat on the couch beside her as she conjured up some hot water and a towel. She washed his cuts carefully, trying not to hurt him though he still winced a few times. They spent the rest of the night up talking about everything in the whole world, everything from Remus and their other friends to some serial killer who called himself "Lord Voldemort" to music and their classes, all of which were the same.

* * *

Suddenly Lily looked out the window to see the sun had almost risen, then to the clock and exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, look what time it is! We're gonna be late for class!"

James looked at the clock and then back at her. It was 7:45AM. "We are _not_ going to be late. Class doesn't start until nine. We have over an hour, and all we have to do is shower and eat, that can't take too long, right?" he grinned, knowing full well that her showers usually take almost an hour.

"I can't shower, eat, get dressed and get to class in an hour! That's crazy!" she pleaded.

"Well, you can't be late either, I know that, so just go without something, or hurry, I suggest going without clothes, but hey, just hurry. I don't want to be late either." He retorted.

"Fine, I'll be out in a minute." She went into her room, and was out of the shower in an amazing fifteen minutes. She dried her hair and came out looking as beautiful as ever, though rather annoyed. She grabbed her black bag that had stars and a crescent moon on it. "Let's go," she said, seizing his waiting arm and pulling him out the door and to the great hall. "Is Remus okay?" she asked him on the way there, "is he gonna be in class today?"

"Might be, depends on how he feels, you never know." He said as they reached the hall. He looked around, didn't see Remus, and decided to go check on him after what happened last night. "Moony not feeling any better today?" he asked Sirius.

"Nope," he answered unconcernedly.

"Okay, well I'll bring him some breakfast then," James decided.

"I'll come with you," Lily piped up. Sirius shot James a warning look, but James nodded at her.

They headed out and up the stairs, Sirius looking confusedly after them.

"I'll go up first; he may kind of freak out if he sees you before I explain what happened." James warned her.

"Oh, is he gonna be mad?" she asked nervously.

"Who could be mad at you?" he said, looking down at her thoughtfully.

"You, several times, I'm sure."

"Well, he's not going to be mad at you, he'll understand. Oh, and I'm not going to forget that you said I was mad at you, but I'll question you later, so think up some good answers." He smiled, becoming the old James for a moment.

He left her at the top of the stairs and went into his former room. Remus was sitting on his bed, looking weary, and his usually flat sandy brown hair was sticking up every which way. "Hey Remus, we brought you up some toast." James announced.

"We?" Remus questioned.

"Oh, you see, there's something I have to explain," James started as Remus raised and eyebrow, "well, you see, last night when I got back, Lily was there, and, well, you know how I tend to look when I got back, and last night was no picnic, and, well, she saw me… and I kinda had to tell her what happened or she would have reported me. She swore not to tell anyone, and I think we can trust her." James finished, blushing slightly at the last part.

"Umm…" said Remus, giving in to the pleading look on James's face, "well, I suppose if she already knows then I can let her come in."

Lily walked in shyly when she heard this. She gave Remus a big hug that she didn't know made James flinch. "Hey Remus, how are you feeling?" she asked quietly.

"Okay, considering," he replied, shaking his head at James.

* * *

James and Lily remained good friends for the next few weeks, much to the displeasure of Alex, who thought that they were getting a little too friendly.

* * *

A/N: OMG next chapter! And why am I not getting any more reviews? It makes me sad to think that I do all this work and no one seems to appreciate it. Well, I hope you guys review! And have a nice day! Oh, and has anyone seen the new superman movie? I get to go see it in IMAX on Saturday. Yay! 


	5. In which things go wrong

A/N: Okay, so Superman was really good, and I'll tell you a quote that anyone who's seen the movie will laugh at. "Weren't there two dogs…?" lol, well, it was very good, but anyways. I am soooo sorry it took me so long to finish this, I had a terrible time trying to figure things out, so thank you for all of your patience, and for my wonderful reviews. I love you all, especially the people I don't know personally, but thank you Caitlin! Oh, and I'm going to thank Toby for this chapter, cause he helped me write it. So that's about it. oh, and there's some not so nice words in this chapter, just so you know. On with the story!

* * *

Last time: _James and Lily remained good friends for the next few weeks, much to the displeasure of Alex, who thought that they were getting a little too friendly.

* * *

_

Chapter 5: In which things go wrong

One day in double Charms, which they had with the Ravenclaws incidentally, James was watching Lily help Alex with a particularly difficult spell, the Confundus Charm. Many students, including him, were having some trouble. James cracked his knuckles angrily, and Sirius noticed, "Prongs, watch it, you don't want to blow this now you—"

But James had already gotten out his wand and was muttering a spell under his breath. All of the sudden, Lily's hair, her gorgeous red hair, was bubblegum pink without her noticing. As James muttered something else, Alex promptly turned into a ferret.

* * *

Lily gasped, taken aback, and turned him back, still not noticing that her hair was not its natural color. "POTTER!" she shrieked, but Amee whispered to her that her hair was pink. Lily stormed out of the room, Amee and Charlie following her cautiously. 

Lily only stopped when they reached the girls' bathroom where she burst into tears. "I can't believe he did that, I thought he had actually changed, but he will always be the loser who pranks people for no reason and goes around cursing people all the time!" she ranted.

"Ohh Lily, come on, he didn't mean anything by it, and you _know_ he still likes you, so maybe he just got jealous of Alex for a minute." Charlie explained sensibly, trying to calm her steaming friend.

"But he ruined everything, we were getting along for once, and he went and killed it." Lily said, calming slightly.

* * *

Back in Charms class, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were trying to calm James down while not tipping off the teacher. "Why did I do that?" James muttered, more to himself than anything, "we were getting along just fine, and I had to go and ruin it," Sirius looked like he was going to interrupt, but James added, "and don't you dare say I told you so, because I didn't mean for all of this to happen, it just did." 

"Shhh," Remus warned. Bellatrix was glaring at them, James glanced at her, then Alex, then back at her.

"Something's going on," James informed them.

"Yeah, but what?" Sirius agreed, following James's gaze.

James sighed, "Well, I might as well give up now, Lily will probably never talk to me again." James stared out of the window for the rest of class.

* * *

The next morning, Lily was long gone when he got up. James went silently to breakfast; Lily was sitting with her friends a little ways from the Marauders. They were talking in low voices, and every once in a while one of them would look over at James and shake their head. 

James wasn't really hungry, so he just nibbled on some toast. He looked around at Lily and was surprised not to see Alex.

"James, are you okay?" Remus questioned softly.

"I don't even wanna talk about it." James answered, not taking his eyes off the back of Lily's head.

"Okay, if you're sure," Remus sounded uncertain.

"Just leave him alone," Sirius interrupted. James spared him a grateful glance before leaving the great hall in search of peace.

* * *

Lily wasn't really hungry, so she just picked at her eggs. She really wanted to see Alex, but he was nowhere to be found. She sighed, she supposed she would see him in Charms if nothing else. 

She did see him in Charms, and he made her feel much better, she helped him finally get the Confundus charm right and they sat talking for the rest of class, as no one else had gotten that charm right yet. Unfortunately for her, James was the next person to get it, so he was trying to listen to their conversation. Lily thought that something was off, so she asked him about it, but he said he was just tired. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, so she decided to ignore it for now, she concluded that she would try to figure it out on their next date, you see, he had just asked her if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade together that weekend, so she has something to look forward to. They eventually decided to give up on talking and just sat there for the rest of the whole class. That was the only time she saw him that day, so she remained nearly silent for the rest of the day.

_At least then I can get away from Potter_, she thought to herself. She had gone back to calling him 'Potter' after their last prefects' meeting had been, less than pleasant, to say the least. For a while it had gone fine, but then he showed up, late as always. He interrupted her every five minutes until she blew up at him and he stormed out. _As if he had any reason to leave_, she thought.

* * *

It was finally Saturday, and the whole school was thrilled to be getting out of the castle even thought it was starting to get cold outside. Everyone was excited, except a certain hazel-eyed boy. He walked slowly down the castle steps, wondering if he should even go or not. He told Sirius that he would meet them there, but he figured Sirius would know not to expect him, they knew each other better than that. If he did go then Sirius would happily pretend nothing happened, if he didn't, Sirius would make up an excuse. Remus may see right through it, but they would know he wasn't there, and they would leave him alone for the time being.

* * *

Lily was standing in the entrance hall, waiting anxiously for Alex to get there. He said he would meet her there, but he was more than fifteen minutes late. She decided that she would go look for him ant tell him off for forgetting and for being late. Walking into the great hall, she spotted Remus, who was about to leave. 

"Hey, have you seen Alex lately? He was supposed to meet me in the entrance hall, but he never showed." She asked.

"Well," said Remus, looking slightly confused, "yeah, he left about a half an hour ago, he asked where you were."

"Oh, well, he must be looking for me then, I'll just go find him," Lily concluded. She said goodbye to Remus and walked to the entrance hall, settling on where to look first. She chose the Charms corridor, knowing that he would look there because she liked Charms, and often practiced in empty classrooms. Lily walked up the stairs to the Charms corridor, not paying attention to the sinking feeling in her stomach.

She tired the first door she came to, but it was locked, and Lily decided she didn't want to know what was behind it. She tried the next few rooms, but they were empty. The fifth door has a couple of 6th years snogging inside, and Lily quickly closed the door and kept walking. All of the other rooms were empty, and Lily had just about given up when she thought she heard Alex's voice behind the locked door. Lily was of course, very good at nonverbal spells by now, so she wordlessly unlocked the door.

She walked in and nearly passed out at what she saw. Bellatrix was up against the wall, completely wrapped around Alex. They were so absorbed in snogging that they didn't notice Lily at all. She gasped and ran out of the room before bursting into hot angry tears. She wanted to kill that stupid little slut. She sat in the third floor girls' bathroom and sobbed for the longest time. She was completely undisturbed because this was Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and no one ever came in there.

She thought many untrue things while sitting in that little room. _I must not be pretty enough.**What! Of course you are! That's why half the guys in the school are after you! **Then I'm stupid. **No, just stop now. Just go out there and dump him. He so deserves it.**_ She decided he was just a moron who deserved anything she could dish out. Though she knew this was true, it did almost nothing to console her. Instead she sat there for a while, trying to not let anyone hear her cry, though they would probably think it was just Moaning Myrtle.

Lily looked at her watch; it wasalmost noon, so people would be coming back from Hogsmeade for lunch soon. All of the sudden, she wanted very badly to see Alex. Not to see him, per se, but to completely embarrass him and make his life as miserable as possible.

She walked down to the great hall, seeing Alex though, her resolve began to evaporate. She stormed up to him and furiously slapped him across the face. "I can't believe you would to this to me Alexander Simon Saunders! I cannot imagine how I ever even thought I loved you!" Lily rushed out past James, tears barely contained in her startling green eyes.

She made it to the head's dorm before she started bawling her heart out. She didn't even notice someone following her until—

"Lily… are you okay?" a deep voice behind her said.

* * *

Lily turned around, saw that it was James, and shouted, "Go away! Don't you think I've got enough going on without you barging your way back into my life and being an arse? 

"I only wanted to—" but he stopped when he heard her door slam shut. James went into his room then heard the portrait open and close but ignored it. He heard soft sobs through the paper thin walls mingled with words of comfort from who he could only assume was Amee.

James tried to get to sleep after that, but all he could see when he closed his eyes was Lily's face when she rushed out of the great hall. He was astonished to see how much hurt and anger there was in those amazing eyes. And then he saw the way she looked at him when he had tried to help. He hadn't realized how much he had really betrayed her, and his heart broke into tiny pieces at the very thought.

* * *

A/N: Did anyone notice Alex's initials? well, i thought it was funny... anyways, another chapter gone, but hey, its all good, this story is turning out quite nicelyI think. I have a new story up, but it's really really short so far, I might update that later if I type some more, but you never know, I mean, I am kinda tired of typing for now, I'll update it later for ya'll. You know the drill, read and review please. Don't make me get down on my knees and beg, I've heard it's very unladylike. Oh well, I will if I must. Just don't make me please! That's all folks. 


	6. In which there are notes

A/N: I just realized that I forgot to put Halloween in, but nothing interesting happened then anyways, so please forgive me! Sorry this chapter took so long to post, but it's summer, and I was gone for a week to camp, which was GREAT! But that's my only excuse, and I know I should have done this sooner, but I didn't so please forgive me. Okay, no more waiting, here it is.

Last time: _James tried to get to sleep after that, but all he could see when he closed his eyes was Lily's face when she rushed out of the great hall. He was astonished to see how much hurt and anger there was in those amazing eyes. And then he saw the way she looked at him when he had tried to help. He hadn't realized how much he had really betrayed her, and his heart broke into tiny pieces at the very thought._

Chapter 6: In which there are notes.

The next morning, James woke up wishing that he had gone to bed earlier. It wasn't until he got to breakfast that James noticed that Lily wasn't there. In fact, he hadn't seen her at all that morning. He asked Remus about it, "Hey Moony, have you seen Lily today?"

"No, besides, do you really expect her to come out of her room today? I mean, you saw what happened. Furthermore, I thought you were over her, so why do you care?"

"I don't. I was just wondering, and I am over her." James lied. He was actually worried about her; it didn't seem like Lily to get like this over a guy.

"Then why haven't you dated anyone else all year?"

"Because no one here is worth dating." _Except Lily…_James thought as he said that.

Remus must have noticed the look in his eyes at the thought of Lily because he said, "Yeah, sure, whatever Prongs." He raised his eyebrows.

All through classes that day, James would glance hopefully around for some sign of her, to no avail. He was actually paying attention in class than he usually did. "Mr. Potter!" Professor Sylvanus cried during Defense Against the Dark Arts. "Pay attention! You're supposed to be practicing your patronus!"

James was, in fact, very good at that already, so he lazily flicked his wand and conjured a patronus, a big black dog. Sirius laughed when he did it, and conjured his patronus just as easily.

Professor Sylvanus just looked at them and then continued helping the other students, shaking his head as he went. James quickly went back to staring out the window and every once in a while looking around for Lily.

This continued all day and the next few days until it was Friday and there was still no sign of Lily, James was getting more worried by the minute, Lily had never missed school before, and she was always on time and had eveything done ontime. The weird thing is, though he never heard anyone come in or out of her room, she was still getting all of her work done.

About halfway through Advanced Transfiguration, Lucius Malfoy sent a note to him.

"_Hey Potty! What's with you and the mudblood? Hope voldy finds her before you do, cause I don't even want to know what the kids would look like."_

James just rolled his eyes, knowing it would do him no good to retaliate now, even though his fists automatically clenched at the mention of Lily being a "mudblood". He just sat there thinking about what Dumbledore had said that morning. There was to be a masquerade ball at the end of the month, New Year's Eve. He knew that there would be a record amount of people staying here for Christmas because of the dance. Since it was a masquerade ball, you had to dress up and wear a mask so no one could know who you were. Unless you had a date that you knew, you couldn't tell anyone who you were until midnight, when everyone took off their masks. The dance would start at 8, and end at 1AM, but you could come and go whenever you wanted to. The dance was only open to fourth years and up, unless you were invited by someone else.

James looked out the window, and as a hummingbird flew into the Whomping Willow and was promptly blown into smithereens, he got a crazy idea. It was just crazy enough that it might work. He was going to use a school owl to sent Lily an anonymous invitation to the dance. He got out some parchment and paper and began to write.

_My Dearest Lily,_

_I was wondering if you were going to the dance on New Year's Eve? If you are, would you want to go with me? Send the reply back with this owl._

_Sincerely,_

And James paused there, should he tell her who he was? No, she would probably think it was some sort of prank and ignore it, or worse, send him a howler… Then he signed the letter—

_Sincerely, Yours_

When Lily woke up the next morning, she was surprised to see an owl waiting on her window ledge. She took the letter cautiously and opened it.

_My Dearest Lily,_

_I was wondering if you were going to the dance on New Year's Eve? If you are, would you want to go with me? Send the reply back with this owl._

_Sincerely, Yours_

Lily was somewhat intrigued, she'd never had a secret admirer before. She wrote back quickly, but even though she was excited, she wasn't stupid. She had to make sure this wasn't a trick, or worse, Alex…

_What year are you in? Lily_

After sending the owl on its way, Lily hurried to the great hall to tell Charlie and Amee what she had just gotten.

"Amee, guys, you've got to see what I got this morning. You would never believe it." She whispered excitedly, leaning over and showing them the note.

Amee gasped audibly, and eyes wide, asked, "Do you know who it is? What did you say? When did you get it? Are you gonna go?" she bombarded all at once.

"Woah woah woah! Hang on a sec, one question at a time. No, I have no idea who it is, but it had better not be Snape! I think that kid likes me." Lily said quietly.

"Ewwww, no, that would be sooo gross! But seriously, what did you say to whoever it is?" Charlie prompted, this was her area of expertise, gossip.

"I asked him what year he was in." Lily said simply. She looked up a few minutes later and saw that hundreds of multicolored owls were swooping down, delivering packages to their rightful owners. She saw James get a letter, as well as many other people she recognized.

When James got up that morning, he dressed quickly and came out of his room, only to find that Lily had already left, which was surprising considering she hadn't been out of her room all week, crying mostly from the sound of it. He had tried to talk to her several times, knocking on her door until his knuckles were red. She had just ignored him and he still didn't know why she wouldn't listen to him. He had sent her the letter, but what if she thought it was Alex? She would never meet whomever she thought it was. James mentally shook himself, he had sent the letter, there was not use worrying about it now. But he couldn't help it, this was his last chance before they graduated.

He walked slowly down to breakfast and tried to collect his thoughts. He was beginning to regret the letter. "What if she knows it's me?" he said aloud. A couple of first years looked strangely at him. "What are you looking at?" he snapped, and they scampered quickly away. James started thinking about Christmas, it was only a few weeks away and he hadn't gotten anyone anything. He was going to get Remus a sneakoscope, but it would have to be disabled while it was in that dorm, too much stuff happened in there. For Sirius he would probably get a broomstick servicing kit, as his broom always needed servicing. It was _that_ old. Not that his parents would ever het him one again anyways.

James got to the great hall then, so he went and sat with the rest of the Marauders. As he looked up, he saw that hundreds of multicolored owls were swooping down, delivering packages to their rightful owners. To his surprise, a very small letter landed in front of him. He opened it slowly and all it said was "_What year are you in? – Lily_" James stuck the letter in his bag to answer in class.

Later that day in Arithmancy, they were taking notes on a lecture that the teacher had given on the number 7 versus the number 13. Lily had just finished in 15 minutes and saw James getting out a piece of parchment and begin writing. Lily was shocked, never before had she seen James Potter start an assignment before ten minutes until the end of class, five usually. She saw him glance up at her and she quickly looked away. She was still furious with him, even thought she no longer regretted Alex being a ferret. He deserved that, but it was the whole principle, and her hair was pink tinted for almost a week afterwards.

She sat for the rest of class thinking about who the note-writer could be. She saw the giant squid sunning itself outside the window. It was snowing lightly and Lily was disappointed to be missing the first snow of the season. When she was little, her mom would take her and her sister out for a walk every first snow, but not anymore.

Later that day, while Lily was sitting in her room, finishing some Charms homework, she heard light tapping on the window. Crossing swiftly to the window, she saw that the owl was a different one from that morning. She opened the note, but not before seenig the cursive "Lily" surrounded by lilies on the front.

_Lily,_

_I am in your year, and I would like you to know that I'm not Alex, and I know you were worried about that. I still await your reply._

_Forever Yours._

_PS. Go asking around about who I am if you much, it'll ruin the surprise, but if you ask me, I'll deny it. Keep in touch._

Lily smiled, this person said to keep in touch. That would be interesting, considering he knew who she was and she didn't know him. But then, she thought wickedly, she could maybe figure out who it was.

_Hello whoever you are. How is your life going right now? Are your classes hard? I'm going to go to bed soon so you'll probably get this in the morning. I hope this is enough keeping in touch for now. And I'm still thinking about the dance. Goodbye._

_-Lily_

Lily folded the letter and sent it off with the still waiting owl. She then changed into her purple pajamas and crawled into her bed, falling asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

A/N: okay guys, I know this took forever to update, but I only finished writing it yesterday. Which I know I have no excuse for because it's summer. But please forgive me and review, whether you liked it or not. I would beg, but I'm too tired from all this typing.


	7. In which Remus is brave

A/N: This might be the last post before school starts, and then they will be much more spread out because I'm taking AP world and Latin III. That should be fun. Well, no, just lots of work. I have a special POV for you guys this chapter, so please tell me what you think! So anyways, I really like this chapter and I hope you will too!

Disclaimer. Haven't done this for a while, I don't own anything HP, but I do own a billion notebooks and tons of pens!

Last time: _Lily folded the letter and sent it off with the still waiting owl. She then changed into her purple pajamas and crawled into her bed, falling asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow._

LJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJ

Chapter 7: In which Remus is brave

The next morning marked a Hogsmeade trip, and everyone was going Christmas shopping. Lily went to breakfast with some money and the note from the night before. When she got to the great hall, she saw that the ceiling reflected the snow falling outside. Lily located her friends and went to show them the latest note.

"Aww! That is sooo romantic!" Amee exclaimed after Lily read the note. "I wish I had a guy like that!"

"Someone romantic?" Lily asked, thinking about someone she knew she had in mind.

"Yeah"

"Someone smart?"

"Yeah…"

"Someone like Remus?"

"Ye—wait, what!" Amee choked.

Lily and Charlie burst out laughing, drawing many strange looks from the peole near them. Amee looked like she wanted to drop through a conveniently placed hole in the ground.

"Guys, shut up," she begged, bright red.

"Well, I'm going to go Christmas shopping now, if any of you would like to join me." Charlie announced, noticing that people were starting to leave.

"I will!" Sirius offered, popping up out of nowhere. He put his arm around a now very irritated Charlie.

"You will not." Said Charlie, glaring daggers at Sirius's hand.

Sirius looked alarmed and quickly removed his arm, then smiled, "Well ladies, I must be off, places to go, people to see…" he winked at Charlie before sauntering arrogantly away.

Lily and Amee rolled their eyes and laughed as he left, but Charlie was stil glaring at his retreating back. "I hate him." She declared defiantly as they gathered their things and began the walk to Hogsmeade.

"Oh come on, he's harmless," Lily reasoned, "he's never had a serious girlfriend in his life, he's just having fun."

The rest of their journey was mostly silent unless one of them was asking how much farther it was. When they got there they decided to split up and shop for each other first. They would meet up at The Three Broomsticks at 1pm.

Lily decided to shop for Amee first, so she headed for the nearest bookshop, Bob's Big Book Barn. She saw Remus in the corner and decided to go say hello. She hadn't talked to him for a while, except in prefect meetings.

"Hey Remus," she said from behind him. He jumped almost a foot in the air and turned around.

"Oh, hello Lily, I didn't see you coming," he stammered.

"Soo, what's up? You seem a little distracted," Lily paused before going on, "is it Amee?" she inquired slyly.

"What? How do you know about that?" Remus said, blushing furiously.

Lily smiled, thinking maybe she could get them together, that would be cute. "You know, you guys would be great together, you compliment each other." Lily replied truthfully.

Remus grinned shyly, "Really? But she probably doesn't even like me…" he finished, face falling.

"You don't know that, the only way to find out is by asking her," Lily thought about this, and got a brilliant idea, "okay, I know you want to ask her to the dance, right?"

Remus nodded cautiously.

"Well, she's going to be at The Three Broomsticks at one, for lunch. Charlie and I can conveniently disappear if you'd like some privacy." Lily offered. "Well, I'm going to go find her a Christmas present now. I'll see you at one." She winked, and with that she walked to the other side of the store, leaving Remus alone with his thoughts.

Lily picked out a book on fencing for Amee, knowing not very many people would know that she liked it, and no one would guess it. A little known fact about Amee is that she was once in a fencing club during summer with Lily, and was one of the best people there. Lily however, was horrible, she would rather just watch, because it was lots of fun to watch, but not so much to actually do. She practiced classical fencing, which wasn't really about the competition, more about the art form. Still, it was much more fun for Lily to watch rather than to risk being poked in the eye, even if that was virtually impossible. She glanced over to where Remus was and saw him quietly pacing back and forth, muttering to himself as he went. Lily smiled, thinking how sweet he was, and she was sure that he would be good to Amee. The fact that she liked him also gave him big bonus points in her mind.

LJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJLJ

Remus stared after Lily as she turned and walked away. Him, James, and Sirius had split up to shop for each other, but all Remus had to do was stop at Zonko's and buy anything and everything he could afford.

He began pacing back and forth, trying not to freak out completely. He had never done anything like this before, and it was terrifying. He was the kid who sat quietly in the corner, knew all the answers, but never did anything like this. Sure he did dangerous stuff, but that was different. Remu chided himself, he went through a horrible transformation every month, that had to be worse than this, and he was scared of asking a girl out. As he paced hi thought about what he would say to Amee if he did pluck up the courage to ask her out. "Hey Amee," he practiced, "I thought maybe you would want to go to the ball with me? Nah, that sounds too desperate… I need James or Sirius for this, though neither one of them can get who they want. Hmm, Hey Amee, are you going to the ball with me? I mean, wait, that's not right…" he muttered to himself for quite some time, until he realized it was around noon, and he hadn't gotten the books he'd come for yet. He quickly purchased them and headed for The Three Broomsticks, walking much more slowly than he would normally, as if trying to delay the pain that was sure to come with his rejection. The rejection that was inevitable for someone like him. He was used to it by now, of course, but that didn't make it better. He knew deep down that she would reject him now or later when he revealed his secret, his "furry little problem" as James often called it in public.

When he got to the pub, it was almost one o'clock on the dot. He saw Lily, Charlie and Amee walking in just ahead of him. He gently prodded Lily in the back; she glanced back at him and smiled encouragingly. She then whispered something to Charlie, who nodded. They walked a little farther and then Lily spoke, "Charlie and I are going to go order us some drinks, could you get us a table?" she asked Amee pointedly.

"Yeah, sure, I'll meet you guys over there," Amee conceded, pointing to their usual corner. Lily winked at Remus once more, who was trying very hard not to faint, and walked to the counter behind Charlie. Remus tood a deep breath and followed Amee to her table.

"Hey Amee," he started once they got there.

"Oh, hey Remus, what's up?" she said politely.

"Well I was wondering if you were going to the New Year's ball," he sputtered.

"Yes, I am actually, why do you ask?" she smiled as if she knew what was coming.

"Well, umm, would you like to come with me?" he asked, biting his lip nervously, thinking of all the possible outcomes, her laughing in his face was the most prominent in his mind. He was sure he was bright red by the hotness of his face.

"I'd love to," Amee replied, blushing as she did so.

"What?" Remus asked disbelievingly.

"I would love to go to the Masquerade Ball with you, Remus." She repeated, turning a darker shade of red.

Remus smiled, "Good, so I'll see you there then? I mean, I'll see you before that too, but, umm, I'll just go now…" he mumbled, quickly walking away, but grinning broadly all the same.

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Lily saw Remus practically bouncing out the door and took that as a good sign. She and Charlie walked slowly back to the table. They set the drinks down and looked at each other briefly before they began to interrogate the beaming blonde. "Well?" asked Lily.

"Well what?" replied Amee, still smiling happily.

"Well, what did Remus want?" Lily asked innocently, raising a single eyebrow, having perfected that look long ago.

"Oh, that, well, he just wanted to ask me something…" Amee said evasively (A/N: is that a word?).

"Something like what?" Charlie challenged.

"He asked me to the New Year's ball." She admitted. They all started squealing and hugging like every other group of best (girl) friends in the world (not every girl, but you get the point). Charlie demanded details at once and was granted her wish. Lily sat back and smiled. She hummed the Matchmaker song from Mulan to herself. Thinking that she was a good matchmaker, she continued her wonderings about her mystery date, maybe date really, she never officially said yes. Turning back into the conversation, she realized they were back to debating the harmlessness of Sirius Black.

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A/N: I got my fencing info from wikipedia! wow, people wink a lot in the chap! okay, so that chap was pretty short, but it's my favorite so far, so yeah, it'll probably be my last one before school starts, I think the next one will have Christmas in it, but no promises! This chap had almost no Lily/James, so there will be a lot more of that next time. Well, I hope you all liked this chapter as much as I did, and I would appreciate if you would tell me just how much! I also do not appreciate flames, so tell me what you think is wrong, not just that you think it sucks. Review Please!


	8. In which there is a holiday

A/N: okay guys, I know it's been FOREVER, but I have only the excuse that school is stressful. So I'm dedicating this chapter to Rachel Scott who died in Columbine. I took rachel's challenge. This chapter was inspired by my very own Remus Lupin, even though I wrote most of it before anything happened, 'cause I always write better after talking to him, I love you!

Disclaimer: No I do not own the world, I merely manipulate it. Don't you love that? I heard it from another story I was reading. But seriously, I don't, Jo does. Oh, and the book that sounds like it's really old belongs to her too.

Last time: _"He asked me to the New Year's ball." She admitted. They all started squealing and hugging like every other group of best (girl) friends in the world (not every girl, but you get the point). Charlie demanded details at once and was granted her wish. Lily sat back and smiled. She hummed the Matchmaker song from Mulan to herself. Thinking that she was a good matchmaker, she continued her wonderings about her mystery date, maybe date really, she never officially said yes. Turning back into the conversation, she realized they were back to debating the harmlessness of Sirius Black._

Chapter 8: In which there is a holiday

There were a lot more people signing up to stay for Christmas than ever before. Lily had received and written several letters back and forth to her secret admirer, though she still had no clue who it was. She still hadn't officially told him that she would go, but she knew she would, I mean, she already had her dress, so why not? She could always ditch him if he was horrible. But he didn't seem like he would be horrible, he was nice, and seemed like he would be the perfect guy, if only she could figure out who he was. All she knew was that he was in Griffindor, and it wasn't Remus, because that would be horrible for everyone involved, and she knew Remus better than that.

On the first day of break, many people went to see their friends off and interestingly enough, Alex was going home and not staying for the dance. Apparenly Lily had left a lasting impact; no one wanted to date him. Lily was very proud of herself when she saw that.

It was Christmas Morning and Lily woke up early as usual. She eyed the packages at the bottom of her head and crawled down to the end of her bed to start opening them. She saw a bright blue box and opened it quickly. It was from her parents, A Wrinkle in Time the boxed set, and it looked extremely expensive. She smiled, recalling that James had read them too. She was about to go show him when she remembered that she wasn't talking to him. She put the books on her nightstand and grabbed the next closest thing. It was from Charlie, tons of Chocolate Frogs and every other chocolate candy you could imagine, muggle and wizard both. Lily ate a frog and sighed contently and silently thatnked Charlie for her rememberance of Lily's chocoholism. The next thing she opened was a book called Olde and Forgotten Bewitchment's and Charmes from Remus, who had apparently seen her eyeing it in the bookstore. The next box was puzzlingly full of holes and purring. Lily looked confused but opened the box curiously. She saw a tiny kitten looking up at her. There was a note laying beside it: _Lily, I know you've always wanted one, so here's a nice little one for you! Love, Amee._ Lily grinned and picked up the kitten. It was grey with dark grey sripes and a few little spots that looked like a grey-ish pink. It was still purring. "You're a very happy little cat aren't you?" Lily crooned, "I think I'll name you Felicity." She told it.

She put her new things away and settled Felicity on her pillow, where she immediately fell asleep, still purring. Lily walked over to the Griffindor common room where she saw that everyone else had finished opening their gifts and amazingly, she saw Remus, who looked abnormally pale, sitting with Amee, and they both looked like their faces would break if they smiled any bigger. "Happy Christmas everyone!" she said, announcing her presence.

"Hey Lily, thanks for the book!" exclaimed Amee, getting up to hug her friend. Remus looked slightly put out, but smiled weakly when she sat back down next to him.

"Yeah, thanks for Felicity! She's adorable!" Lily replied happily. She didn't even realize that James was looking sadly at her, not saying anything at all.

Lily suddenly looked up at Remus, who blinked. Counting on her fingers quickly, she then gasped. Tonight was a full moon (A/N: says me and no one else). She looked questioningly at Remus, who glanced at her over Amee's head and shook his head, indicating that she didn't know. Lily gave him a sympathetic look, thinking he was afraid of what would happen if he told her. When he looked at Amee as if to make sure she was real, she knew she was right. She smiled at him, but he wasn't paying any attention to her, and instead was focused on a very lost looking James Potter. He was no longer staring at Lily, but was gazing out the window, still silent for once in his life. "Hey James," Remus said suddenly, "thanks for the books." James looked at him and nodded, then looked back out the window. Remus and Sirius exchanged glances and sighed.

Everyone got up for breakfast at the same time, Remus lagging behind everyone else. "Hey Lily, do you know what's wrong with Remus?" Amee asked slightly accusatorially.

"Umm… I don't think he's feeling very well today…" Lily said carefully. Amee didn't know this, but if today hadn't been Christmas, he probably wouldn't have come down at all today.

"Oh, yeah, seems like it, hope he's okay." Said Amee anxiously.

"Just give him a few days, he'll be fine." Lily consoled.

"I hope so…" Amee said, glancing back at the still pale Remus.

Lily dropped back unnoticibly so she was beside Remus to talk to him, leaving Amee alone to talk to Charlie about who knows what. She had Sirius and James to talk to too, she had no reason to hate them. "Hey Remus, what's up?" she asked pointedly, glancing at a now laughing Amee.

"I know I should tell her, but I can't. Not yet, she would never talk to me again, I know it, it would ruin what we have." Remus exploded suddenly, looking down at Lily with a pleading look on his face.

"You know what I'm going to say, you should tell her, and the sooner the better, especially considering tonight." Lily reminded unnecessarily, raising her eyebrows at him suggestively.

"I know, I'll think about it I swear." Remus replied evasively. Lily gave him a look, but she just left him again to walk with Charlie and Amee.

"Hey Amee," Lily started, smiling rather wickedly, "Remus wanted to talk to you about something." She glanced back at Remus and gave him a thumbs-up, but his eyes just got very wide and he shook his head violently. Amee was already on her way back as they reached the great hall. It was decorated with many trees and lights just like every year, but they noticed more because it was their very last year ever to see the beautiful lights. Lily sat down with Charlie near the front of the table, glancing back to see James and Sirius a few seats behind them on the other side, but what she was more interested in was Remus and Amee, talking near the end of the table. Charlie looked slightly confused but just sat, eating her bacon and eggs.

When Amee came over to Lily and Charlie she looked happy, but not nearly as shocked as she should have been, not at all really. "Hey, what was that?" Charlie asked suspiciously to both of them, looking up at Amee as she sat down beside them.

"Oh, that, he just wanted to tell me that he had to do something tonight with the rest of the marauders and that he wasn't blowing me off." Amee said contentedly.

"Oh, that's nice of him," Charlie said distractedly, looking around the great hall.

"Hey Charlie… Charles???" Lily said, trying her best to get Charlie's attention. "Rebeckah (A/N: I love spelling rebeckah that way for some reason) Candace Palmer! Hello???" she tried again, using her full name for a different approach. It worked.

Her eyes snapped up at them. "What was that for? No one besides you guys know my full name, most people don't even know 'Rebeckah'" she complained loudly once she realized that both Lily and Amee were staring at her.

"You seem, distracted, this morning." Amee decreed, looking strangely at Charlie.

"Oh no, I'm just tired that's all." She evaded effortlessly.

"What's going on?" Lily persisted.

"Hello James, Remus," Charlie chimed in unnecesarily, as James uncertainly followed Remus and Sirius over to their end of the table.

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That night, Lily was clearing away the remains of her presents when she saw a small box sitting under the wrapping paper. It was a pink and yellow striped box that clashed wonderfully with both her hair and the room. She looked at it curiously, but upon seeing who it was from, James, simply put it in the corner of her desk drawer. The next thing she saw was an owl sitting rather impatiently on her desk. She took its letter and sat on her chair as the owl flew out into the night sky. She opened it and revealed another letter from her mystery suitor.

_My dearest Lily,_

_I still await your reply. I'll go alone if you don't answer, if you do, I'm going to be wearing green to match your beautiful eyes._

_-Yours forever_

Lily sighed, she had to answer him, it was now or never. **_Well, if I do go with him I'm guaranteed at least a few dances and a date that wasn't forced to go with me… But what if I hate him, or he's shorter than me, or he's in slytherin and lied, or… Wait, I can't go through all the whatifs and not get anything accomplished. Can I?_** She thought about it for about five minutes, then got out a piece of parchment and wrote a short note.

_I suppose I'll go with you, I'll meet you on the left side of the great hall._

_- Lily_

She got up to send it, but stopped in her tracks, she had no idea where to send it to. She sighed again, perhaps whoever he was would realize that and send another owl soon. She didn't want to admit it to anyone, but she thought she might like this person, which she decided was horrible because for all she knew she'd never met him.

A/N: Okay, so I love you if you've read this far, and please share the love by reviewing. There will be another chapter up soon I think, cause I have it all written and I know I meant for it to be the ball, but there's a reallllly short chapter that I want to put in the middle. R&R!!!!!

- Sarah


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